It doesn’t feel like too long ago that rugby fans were up and out of their seats, roaring Ireland on through the Autumn International series of test matches. But all of this is firmly in the history books now as the focus quickly shifts to the 2025 Six Nations.
Ireland head back into the famous old competition as the reigning champions, despite failing to sweep the Grand Slam in last year’s championship, all because of the English. In round 4 of last season’s campaign, there was a blockbuster match between England and Ireland at Twickenham, which was settled with the clock in the red by the boot of England’s Marcus Smith, which gave England a 23-22 victory.
Ireland had the last laugh though by claiming the Six Nations title after beating Scotland in their final match, making it back-to-back crowns for Andy Farrell’s men. So, Ireland are the ones with the targets on their backs, the team to catch and try to knock off their perch. But can anyone do it?
Despite some changes going into the 2025 Six Nations with Farrell not on duty in the hot seat, Ireland are not going to let their grip on the title slip easily. What better way to get the adrenaline pumping than by welcoming England to the Aviva for the opening round of fixtures in February?
Yes, right out of the gate for the 2025 Six Nations, Ireland have their chance of revenge against the men in white, the team who denied them that Grand Slam chance last season. The two will meet in Dublin on 1st February in a match that’s being billed as a potential early title decider in the tournament.
Here, we preview the mouth-watering Ireland vs England Six Nations 2025 clash.
Irish pride to lay the platform for revenge in Dublin
Through much of the early encounters at Twickenham last year against England, Ireland never looked like being in a position to get close to a win, despite going into the match as the hot favourites. It was anything but a vintage performance from Andy Farrell’s men across the 80 minutes.
Still, largely thanks to the boot of Jack Crowley, Ireland had somehow gone into the half-time break with a 12-8 lead. The game then shifted, and in a dramatic climax, England scored their third try of the match in the 60th minute. The hosts should have controlled the game from there, but Ireland came up with a big score in the 73rd minute as James Lowe crossed for a try, which crucially went unconverted.
This set up a dramatic finale with England pushing hard for a response. Just as Ireland looked to have pushed back the late waves, Marcus Smith popped up with a drop goal in the 81st minute. It was a heartbreaking blow right at the end of the match after Ireland had put themselves on the line in defence to try to hang on.
They were so near but ended up being so far for another win at Twickenham and a shot at the Grand Slam. However, nothing fuels a top performance like revenge. A reminder of last year’s result against England will be a huge motivation for Ireland when they play host to them in the opening round of the 2025 Six Nations. The game will be refereed by New Zealand’s Ben O’Keefe.
A look back at the rivalry
England lead the overall head-to-head 81-53 against Ireland from 142 previous matches. Since the sport turned professional in 1995, England have a much more slender 19-15 lead. When the two sides first met officially, back in February 1875, England won, though it was a very different sport from the one that is played today.
Ireland’s historic breakthrough in claiming a victory over England didn’t happen until 1927 when they ground out a 19-15 win at Lansdowne Road in the Five Nations Championship, which sparked a great competitive history between the two nations.
Skipping to the more recent history, in 2019 and 2020 England won all four meetings with Ireland, which included a World Cup warm-up match and an Autumn Nations Cup contest. Ireland stopped the rot impressively when the two met at the Aviva Stadium for the 2021 Six Nations, and since then, the men in green have been on top in encounters between the two old rivals.
The Irish ran out 32-18 winners in that 2021 revival, and when they went to Twickenham the following year, they produced a dominant 32-15 Six Nations win. They would make it three in a row against the men in white at the 2023 Six Nations back in Dublin, before beating them again in a 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up match.
England’s victory last year snapped Ireland’s three-match winning streak over them in the Six Nations.
Ireland vs England stats to impress friends with
- The longest winning streak ever between England and Ireland was produced by the former, when they won eight games on the spin between 1912 and 1924.
- Ireland’s longest run of success over England was over five matches, starting in February 1972 and ending in 1976.
- The biggest winning margin ever was England’s 42 points in a record-breaking 57-15 win in 2019 at Twickenham. Ireland’s largest margin of success was in 2007 when they recorded a win by 30 points in a 43-13 win at Croke Park.
Ireland can deliver a statement victory
Ireland never got out of second gear at Twickenham last year and still pushed England all the way. So, there are positives to take from the result when it’s put in that context. Then last summer, Ireland did very well to tie a series against South Africa on tour, showing their quality and grit in one of the toughest places in the world to play.
They will, however, know that they need to be better than they were in the 2024 Autumn Internationals. The usual fluency and consistency just weren’t there for them as they opened with a loss against New Zealand. Ireland responded with a three-match winning sequence against Argentina, Fiji and Australia, but still will have been feeling that they have a lot more to give.
England’s form isn’t exactly anything to fear at the moment. They have won just two of their last eight internationals, with both of those successes coming against the Brave Blossoms of Japan. It’s always worth reminding Irish fans that England lost away against Scotland and France in last year’s Six Nations.
England’s issues have been not being able to sustain a performance over the full 80 minutes of action, and they have been lacking the game management to close out fixtures. So, there are definitely gaps there for Ireland to exploit and they will, of course, fancy their chances on home turf in Dublin.
Ireland’s loss against New Zealand at the Aviva back in the autumn was their first home reverse in more than three years. So, the odds are on their side.
Ireland odds-on favourites against England
Speaking of odds, what do the betting lines say about this headlining match? It’s no surprise that Ireland are 1/3 odds-on favourites at home to collect the victory. They haven’t lost at home in the Six Nations since a 15-13 loss to France in 2021, and given their overall recent dominance over the men in white, the bookmakers are clearly expecting this to go just one way.
Looking at the handicap line for Ireland vs England Six Nations betting, the Ireland -6 option is at 10/11. Judging by that, Ireland are expected to win this battle decisively. England are 12/5 underdogs, despite bullish talk from head coach Steve Borthwick about them sweeping this year’s Six Nations title. Defeat in this test could further damage Borthwick’s job security after what was a poor 2024.
Six Nations outright odds
For the outright preview of this year’s Six Nations, there is little to split France and Ireland at the head of the market at around 7/4. The French were hugely disappointing last year but are expected to bounce back, especially with Antoine Dupont back in fifteens and running the show after last year’s Olympic Sevens exploits.
France open the 2025 Six Nations in Paris against Wales, a match that Les Bleus are expected to win easily. So, this is a great opportunity for the French to get up and running in the contest before their latter clashes with both Ireland and England.
Also, for this year’s championship, Ireland have the opportunity to write another new chapter of their great history. They could, for the first time, win three consecutive Six Nations crowns. The last time they went for such a bid was in 2016, when things fell apart badly for them, with defeats against France and England (both away games). Can they get over that hurdle this time around?
Ireland’s 2025 Six Nations campaign
Getting off to a positive start is going to be important for Ireland’s title ambitions this year. Given the way that the fixtures shake out for them this season, they have received a potentially huge advantage. Ireland will face their two biggest title rivals, England and France, in their two home fixtures. Win those two and they should pretty much have one hand on the title.
- 1st February – Ireland vs England
- 8th February – Scotland vs Ireland
- 22nd February – Wales vs Ireland
- 8th March – Ireland vs France
- 15th March – Italy vs Ireland
They will need the passionate vocal support right behind them at the Aviva for those two massive home games, which are the big ones in their quoted 7/2 Grand Slam bid. Ireland’s entire campaign could hinge on those games at the Aviva.
Players to watch for
Stand-in coach Simon Easterby selected his first Ireland squad in mid-January. He’s in the hot seat while Andy Farrell turns his attention to the British and Irish Lions for their tour of Australia in the summer.
The uncapped prop Jack Boyle has been brought into the 36-man squad as a replacement for Tom O’Toole, who is suspended for the first two matches of Ireland’s 2025 campaign. Boyle will be joined by four other uncapped development players – Hugh Cooney, James McNabney, Ben Murphy and Cathal Forde.
It’s still too early to tell whether James Lowe and Dan Sheehan will play a part in this season’s championship because of injury, but they have been included among the early selections. Jamison Gibson-Park, Conor Murray and Caolin Blade are the scrum-halves for the Six Nations squad, while Craig Casey is sidelined. Other omissions from the squad are Dave Heffernan, Nick Timoney and Jacob Stockdale.
Plenty to look forward to
England prevented Ireland from winning the Grand Slam last year, thanks to Marcus Smith’s magical high-pressure drop goal. Will Ireland turn the tables on Steven Borthwick’s men this time around? You can keep up to date with all the pre-tournament 2025 Six Nations betting odds at Tonybet. There is also extensive match coverage of all this year’s fixtures, with a host of pre-match and in-play markets for handicaps, winning margin, try scorer and points totals.
